About Me

Welcome! I am passionate about excellence in early childhood education. I do a mainly Reggio inspired child-led/ teacher-facilitated/ play-based intensive preschool curriculum. Aspects of Montessori and other programs are sprinkled throughout as well. My graduates are all at the top of their classes and many are in gifted programs. I homeschooled my two boys for l3 years for academic reasons.
I have a master's degree in Human Resources (training and development,) and college courses in Early Childhood Education and Development, along with my 120 hour Child Development Associate training.
One of my clients has a doctorate in Early Childhood Education and Special Education, so I always have her expertise to tap into as well.
I welcome questions and comments.

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Our Body - Week 1 Body Parts - Day 3 Digestive System

This was our first day using our felt body parts and working on internal organs. The children LOVED it.

Teaching Elementsfor today:

We eat food

We chew food with our teeth to break it into small pieces

Food travels down the esophagus to the stomach

The stomach is full of acid

The acid breaks down the food

The food goes into the small intestine where nutrients are absorbed

Then it goes into the large intestine where the water is squeezed out

Then the left over food comes out as poop.

Beginning Discussion- Focused on discussing our food and stomachs, their importance, our favorite foods, why we need to eat good foods, how those good food nutrients work in our body to make us healthy and strong. Language - We worked our body parts word wall, going over the internal organ names, reviewing beginning and ending sounds.

Math- We laid out a "small intestine" to see how long 20 feet was and compared that to a 5 foot large intestine. While creating the number line, we worked on our number order, number identification, and odd/even. Even though they are right around 3, the children were able to complete the number line independently.

Of course, we had to measure some other large items as well...

Since our number cards are not 12 inches tall, to make it easier to space the numbers the next time I do this unit, I folded up the "intestines" in one foot increments to use as a guide.

Science & Fine Motor -How our bodies break down food: Give each child a slice of bread, have them tear it into pieces (teeth), add water and stir (spit), add more water (stomach acid) have them mush it with their hands (stomach muscles mushing), pour onto a towel and roll up (small intestine) and see how the water comes out (nutrients), squeeze the towel (large intestine) and open to find the solid (poop).

Gross Motor - For gross motor the children took turns laying down on a cot and placing the body parts.

This was available as a free choice activity throughout the rest of the unit.Song/Finger Play - Again, I couldn't find ANY songs or finger plays that addressed the digestive system, so I made up my own.

Digestion [Tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It]Original song by Little Stars Learning

If you’re hungry and you know it eat some foodIf you’re hungry and you know it eat some foodIf you’re hungry and you know it, then you really ought to do itIf you’re hungry and you know it eat some food.

Chomp, chomp, chomp it with your teethChomp, chomp, chomp it with your teethMix it with your spit and send it down your esophagusSoon your stomach won’t feel uncomfortable.

Mix it in your stomach with some acidMix it in your stomach with some acidThen send it on its way so the small intestine mayGet all the nutrients your body needs

Pull out the water and the nutrientsPull out the water and the nutrientsAs your food moves along, through intestines small and largeThe end results create a nice and solid poop.Books -This is the book we read today.

Although the book below is above our level, the graphics were wonderful to study and discuss.

We've just finished being in potty-training mode, so had this one handy, another good preschool book to go along with this unit.

We really had a fun time on this first day of internal anatomy. We are all excited for tomorrow!Tags: anatomy, preschool, pre-k, childcare, child, care, science, digestion, digestive, stomach, liver, intestine, esophagus, poop, printable, theme, unit, body, parts,